Present methods of determining important characteristics of grain as it moves in transit from the farm to commercial market, are crude at best. Most involve utilization of mechanical grain probes. As the grain is sold from the grower to the intermediate grain broker, the price to a certain extent is determined by an examination of the characteristics of the grain. That is to say, moisture content, the amount of adulterating foreign materials, and the like. In most instances, the testing is done by utilization of either hand grain probes or auto-mechanical probes. In either event, the testing is done in essentially the same manner. The probe is thrust into the load of grain and a sample extracted. Thereafter, the sample is analyzed to determine moisture content and visually inspected for adulteration. These inspections are not only time consuming, but many times can be inaccurate. For example, visual inspection is perhaps the most common way of determining the presence of mold toxin, along with smelling. However, the mere fact that a sample does not look moldy or does not have a moldy smell, does not necessarily mean that the grain is not infected with mold toxins.
Certainly other more sensitive mold toxin tests could be utilized, but they are simply not practical for use at a grain elevator where the testing must be done quickly and oftentimes by a fairly non-skilled operator.
There is therefore a continuing need for on-site testing methods and an apparatus for determining grain quality. This invention has as its primary objective, a fulfilling of that need.
In particular, an object of this invention to provide a method of detecting mold toxin infected grains which correlates the presence or absence of mold toxins with the presence or absence of certain volatiles in the grain.
Another object of this invention is to provide a method of detecting the presence or absence of mold toxins in grain which employs a gas chromatograph analysis technique.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a simple apparatus; that is to say, a volatiles trapping capsule which can be inserted into a kit type gas chromatograph and quickly determined instrumentally to detect the presence or absence of volatile materials known to be present in moldy grains.
An even further object of this invention is to provide a detection system for detection of mold infected grain which is highly sensitive, even sensitive to as low as at the sub-microgram level, which is much lower than the level capable of detection by smell.
The method and manner of achieving each of the above objectives and fulfilling the needs as stated, will become apparent from the detailed description of the invention which follows hereinafter.